The Characters Of Sita In The Rishi, Valmiki's Ramayana

In this paper, I am going to analyze the female characters that caught my attention the most in the three stories The Epic of Gilgamesh, Thousand and One Nights, and Candide. They all are important characters in each of the stories and their influence in the story is to help. These stories also depict how women were being treated during these times such as being used for their bodies or their wisdom. The characters that I will be analyzing in the paper are Shamhat, Shiduri, Sharazad, the Old Woman, and Cunegonde. In all three stories, they mostly share the same depictions of the role of women and how women weren’t really important besides their bodies.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, gender plays a very significant role. While women were not the most powerful gods nor the strongest or wisest of humans, they still had tremendous influence. Though the main characters of the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, are male, women did not play a necessarily minor role. With all the women that play a role in the Epic of Gilgamesh, gender is a topic worthy of discussion.

Ramayana, translated by William Buck, is an ancient Indian epic telling the story of a prince named Rama who fights against his adversary, Ravana. Although there are many important female characters throughout the book, they are often seen as subordinate to their male counterparts where intelligence and strength are concerned. One character who proves this stereotype wrong is Sita, Rama’s wife, who often shows that she has the capacity of being just as powerful as the men of the story. By being more mindful than most people around her, Sita defies the expectations that many characters have placed on her. Sita lets the reader see another side of women’s power and shows us the strength that women could have. The reason that Sita proves to be powerful is that she seems to have an understanding of the deeper meaning of her life; precisely the quality that men don’t expect her to have.

For centuries, books, television shows, even beloved childhood movies have subtly reinforced the social construct of patriarchy. Classic movies such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty follow the typical story line of a damsel in distress, followed by a heroic man coming to her rescue. This conception of a male focused storyline is nothing new and is an aspect that constitutes patriarchy, which has existed since the advent of agriculture and has persisted throughout the centuries. In fact, patriarchy was a major theme that was reinforced in the first story ever recovered; The Epic of Gilgamesh was written as early as 2000 BC in Mesopotamia and is loosely based on the Sumerian king, Gilgamesh. The story tells of Gilgamesh’s adventures with his friend Enkidu as they conquer everything from other men to the Bull of Heaven. Throughout the story, patriarchy is heavily reinforced. Although the driving force behind patriarchy is personal attainment of security and status, a number of objectively undesirable events result such as the subjugation of women and societies that value control and dominance. The narrator reinforces different aspects of patriarchy in The Epic of Gilgamesh by portraying men in a good light and women in a bad one, focusing society around males, withholding agency from female females, normalizing violence, and creating the need for unequal relationships between men and women.

Throughout the history, in all cultures the roles of males and females are different. Relating to the piece of literature “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid for the time, when women’s roles were to work in the home. By examining

In both The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tale of Genji women play a very important role. In a time were men were considered to be leaders, fighters, and the powerful decision makers, it was the women behind them that supported, advised, and took care of them. In the ancient times females were considered dominate over males because they had the ability to carry a child and continue human life. These two tales show us the important roles that women played and the vulnerability of women in a male dominated world. In each story women are considered as important characters, but each story portrays them differently.

In the story of The Ramayana women are viewed as a struggle to establish identity. The Ramayana men are viewed as rulers and leaders. An example of this is Rama who implied that his selection as a prince was to rule, “ Mother my father has appointed me to the task of protecting the people.”(694). The Ramayana’s example of loyalty were based upon Sits, she is Rama’s wife. The moment that Sita heard about Rama’s exile, she rushed to be by his side, "As shadow to substance, so wife to husband," she reminded Rama. "Is not the wife's Dharma to be at her husband's side?(714) The role of women in Gilgamesh are that most of the women are seen as sex objects of temptation. For example, The Harlot, is a prostitute and is seen as a sex toy; her main purpose in the story is to seduce Enkidu. Gilgamesh men play the position of power and more powerful. An example of this is Anu, who is the most powerful God. In addition to this, Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk and two-thirds god. Gilgamesh has immense powers who differentiate him from others in the human world, this proves how powerful he is. Throughout the book of Gilgamesh the development between the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu was very unexpected. The first time they meet each other they start to argue, this leads the reader and everyone else to conclude and that they would be more like enemies. Through the progress of the story, we learn that loyalty

     Until recently, the role of women in literature has seemed to reflect the way they were treated in society. Women were seen as secondary to men, and their sole purpose in life was to please a man’s every desire. This is not the case in three specific literary works. The Odyssey, The Wife of Bath, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight use the actions of its women characters to greatly enhance important thematic elements. The women in each of these works use feminine psyche to persuade men to do things that men of the time would not usually do. The use of women in these literary works is very contrary to the prevailing ideals of the female and her responsibilities at the

In the ancient world, views of women were often derogatory, yet some viewed women as intelligent and powerful. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata both display the complex opinions towards women of the time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the characters Shamhat and Ishtar provide the audience with a biased view towards women, but this work also provides a more positive opinion of women through Siduri, Utnapishtim's wife, and Aruru. As paralleled in Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Calonice and Peace represent negative perspectives of women, but this play also portrays women positively with Lysistrata and Myrrhine. The ancient texts of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata simultaneously depict women as inferior, equal to, and superior to men to represent the complex views of women that were present during ancient times.

The epic portrayed a patriarchal society, where men had the majority of the roles. Throughout the epic men convey the qualities of a ruler and dominate over women when it comes

As Rama obeys his father, Sita, Rama’s wife, convinces Rama that she shall go with him, thus fulfilling her dharma s being a

You all must be aware of the epic tale of Ramayana that begins as Lord Rama was exiled to a forest for 14 years with his dear wife, Sita and brother Laxman. To get to the main point straight away, Sita, the epitome of grace and beauty was abducted by the main antagonist of the Ramayana written by Valmiki- Raavan. My mention on Valmiki as the writer is on purpose because it was according to him that Raavan was termed as the villain but in reality,

The epic story of Rama and Sita, as portrayed by Valmiki’s Ramayana and the modern day film Sita sings the Blues are two different versions of the same story which contain several contrasts as well as similarities. The Ramayana is the ancient version which was written by a sage named Valmiki in 550 B.C.E, featuring a love story between an ideal prince and an ideal woman. It outlines the adventures of Rama in his journey to find his abducted wife Sita. Rama is portrayed as an avatar, being the eighth incarnation of one of the Hindu gods Vishnu, while Sita is representing Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of light. The modern day version of the Ramayana is seen in Sita Sings the Blues, where the animator Nina Paley is relating her love story to that of Sita’s predicament. This paper will compare and contrast the epic story of Valmiki’s Ramayana and Sita Sings the Blues in the quest for power, honor, faithfulness and the conflict between good and evil.

Women have frequently been one of the victims of the stereotypical and judgemental society. Every action and step that’s taken by them are critiqued by society. If women are seen to be involved in such activities that violate modesty, they get shunned and negatively viewed, whereas if a man commits the same action equal amount of critique isn’t given. In many places around the globe, women are considered inferior. They are underestimated and are always seen to be dependent on men. What some often fail to acknowledge is their significance. The Epic of Gilgamesh was widely subjected on the heroism of two friends and the journey of transformation of a mighty king, but it did convey the significance of women and the important roles that were played by them nonetheless. Without the assistance and vision of women, the Epic of Gilgamesh wouldn’t have been so epic.

Ravana, the villainous king of Lanka, hears about the beauty of Sita as his sister describes her as being ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’ thereby inciting him to kidnap her. She describes her physical attributes by comparing her skin, eyes, hands and ‘her breasts’ to ‘juicy lotuses’. Sita, who resembles the animated cartoon character Betty Boop, has been objectified throughout the course of the movie . This not only happens in the movie but is something that is generally seen to happen in the society. In the Ramayana it is mentioned that Sita’s eyes ‘resembled the petals of a lotus’, she ‘wore dark curly hair and was endowed with fine hips.’ Ramayana enjoys such an exalted status that all its narrations are seen as source of teachings and truth. It is inexplicable for such a sacred epic to objectify woman. And if it does so, what can be expected from the huge number of people who seem to harbour blind faith in its